Abstract: With the diversification of thermoelectric materials preparation methods and the development of characterization technologies , Traditional alloy type thermoelectric materials with excellent performance become the best candidate among various thermoelectric materials , which shows a higher thermoelectric properties and conversion rate .The traditional metal alloy type thermoelectric materials was introduced according to the working temperature , which were classified into low temperature thermoelectric material Bi2 Te3 , medium temperature thermoelectric material PbTe and high temperature thermoelectric material SiGe.Then, the thermoelectric properties'optimization methods were reviewed and discussed .Finally, the applications of thermoelectric devices based on semiconductor metal alloy were mentioned .The future development of semiconductor metal alloy thermoelectric materials was proposed .

Key words: With the diversification of thermoelectric materials preparation methods and the development of characterization technologies , Traditional alloy type thermoelectric materials with excellent performance become the best candidate among various thermoelectric materials , which shows a higher thermoelectric properties and conversion rate .The traditional metal alloy type thermoelectric materials was introduced according to the working temperature , which were classified into low temperature thermoelectric material Bi2 Te3 , medium temperature thermoelectric material PbTe and high temperature thermoelectric material SiGe.Then, the thermoelectric properties'optimization methods were reviewed and discussed .Finally, the applications of thermoelectric devices based on semiconductor metal alloy were mentioned .The future development of semiconductor metal alloy thermoelectric materials was proposed .